There is an ongoing debate over whether or not welfare recipients should be drug tested to receive the benefits. Both sides of the argument have merit. Those who oppose the idea of drug testing say that it is unconstitutional and violates the Fourth Amendment. Furthermore, they claim that this law stereotypes and discriminates against those from low socioeconomic demographics, implying that because they are poor, they must be drug addicts. However, those who support the law note that its intended purpose is to ensure that taxpayer money is not being squandered on people who only plan to abuse this assistance. Only nine states so far have instituted drug testing of candidates for welfare assistance. This drug testing has proven to be prohibitively expensive in many cases. Consequently, some states only test subjects with whom they find suspicion, or who have admitted to past drug use. Though proposed drug testing of welfare applicants initially appears to be a good idea to eliminate potential abusers of the system from receiving assistance, it appears that even more money may be wasted on the testing process, which negates the savings that are the primary objective of the law.
Welfare assistance itself is provided from monies managed by a federally funded program that provides health care, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment benefits, cash aid, and housing to citizens in need. It is categorized the governmental umbrella of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). According to Welfare Information, eligibility is determined by net income, family size, and any crisis situation such as: pregnancy, homelessness, or unemployment (2014). TANF also requires the recipient to obtain employment within two years of rec...
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...satoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/story/2012-03-18/drug-testing-welfare-applicants/53620604/1
Pollack, H., Danziger, S., Jayakody, R., Seefeldt, K. (2002, January –February). Drug Testing
Welfare Recipients-False Positives, False Negatives, Unanticipated Opportunities. Women’s Health Issues, Vol. 12(1), pp. 23-31, Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S1049-3867(01)00139-6
Shaberg, A. (2012, April 1). State Drug Testing Requirements for Welfare Recipients: Are
Missouri and Florida’s New Laws Constitutional? Missouri Law Review, Spring2012, Vol. 77 Issue 2, p567-589. 23p. Retrieved from http://web.b.ebscohost.com.southuniversity.libproxy.edmc.edu/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=aef9f6f7-734d-4a6c-adae-2b97736ecc93%40sessionmgr111&vid=2&hid=127
US Welfare System – Help for US Citizens. (2014). Welfare Information. Retrieved from http://www.welfareinfo.org/
"States Consider Drug Testing for Welfare Recipients." FoxNews.com - Breaking News | Latest News | Current News. 26 March 2009. Web. 31 January 2011
In an attempt to ensure that food stamps were being used only by those in need of food stamps, there were a few states that implemented a fingerprinting program for food stamp recipients. The fingerprinting program was introduced with the hopes of cracking down on the fraud associated with the food stamp program. The goal was to save tax-payer’s money as well as enforce that those individuals needin...
More than _____ people across the United States received some form of government funded welfare assistance during ___yr (cit). Government programs include, but are not limited to health services, economic assistance, food assistance, and shelter assistance. The focus and design of welfare assistance programs is with the intent of aiding individuals with their essential needs. Its purpose is not to benefit deceitful individuals seeking handouts. Posed with the question, “Should people on welfare be required to work?” the response from a small group of my closest friends was a unanimous “yes.” Although, this outcome was not shocking, the degree of anger and animosity that the inquiry provokes was very intriguing, as well as the reasons given.
It is a commonly known fact that a large percentage of Americans are living on and relying on welfare, which is a government program that provides financial aid to individuals or groups of people who cannot support themselves. Welfare began in the 1930’s during the Great Depression. There are several types of assistance offered by the government, which include healthcare, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing assistance. The type of welfare and amounts given depend on the individual, and how many children they have. There are many people who honestly need the government assistance, but there are also many who abuse the privilege.
“Should Welfare Recipients Be Tested for Drugs?” Debate Club, U.S News and World Report. http://www.usnews.com/debate-club/should-welfare-recipients-be-tested-for-drugs
Since the Welfare reform law was introduced in 1996 it has impacted American society greatly. The new welfare policy, named the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), replaced the Aid to Family and Dependent Children (AFDC) program; they have five known differences that only affect the ones who need the assistance. Critics argue that the TANF has negatively impacted the society while some argue that it has not. Linda Burnham, author of “Welfare Reform, Family Hardship & Woman of Color,” asserts that “welfare reform has increased the hardship faced by many women leaving welfare for work and their movement into low-wage jobs, exposes them to higher level of housing insecurities, homelessness, food insecurity, and hunger.” She also argues that women of color “are especially vulnerable to the negative impact of welfare reform” (38).
On 30 January 2011, the Missouri House of Representatives passed a bill and sent it to the senate that would require drug testing for those receiving state Temporary Assistance for Needy Family (TANF) funds. Funding from food stamps, medicare, and public housing would not be affected by this bill (Keller – House). According to Columbia Tribune reporter Rudi Keller, the bill is very similar to the Arizona law which is the only other state that tests welfare recipients. Missouri and Arizona would use a questionare and interview which would determine which applicants to test. The two states are also similar in their caseload of 45,017 people on assistance in Arizona and 42,885 in Missouri. The state would not be obligated to provide treatment for those that fail. Also, children would be protected because the money would be given to them by a third party in the event that their head of household tests positive (Keller- Arizona). According to the Columbia Tribune, TANF is a five year maximum support benefit for people who are attempting to find a job or gain employment skills. The maximum TANF payment is $292 dollars a month with the head of household portion being $58 (Keller- House). The issue of drug testing those on welfare goes back to 1996 with the welfare reform act authorized, but did not require, states to impose mandatory drug testing as a prerequisite to receiving state welfare assistance (Drug Testing).
Meth, marijuana, cocaine, and heroin are among the top drugs that many people use and utilized as money making tactics. As we all know, drugs are found and they are heavily used in low income areas, not only do they pose a significant effect on one’s health but they pose a significant effect on our economy. Generally it is perceived that those who reside in low income areas are the ones who resort to drugs, evidently they are. Likewise, they are also the ones who are assumed to be enlisted on government assistance programs. Some of these programs include; health care, child care, ebt benefits, and even housing assistance programs. So the substantial question is “Should people who receive government assistance undergo drug tests?”
45 million Americans with low income rely on at least one of the many welfare programs. Of these government assistance programs, many of them deal with fraud and abuse. “Some cases of government assistance misuse are more blatant than others, but some aid recipients are using sneaky tactics that give other needy Americans a bad reputation” (calonia 1). Clearly, people are abusing the system in order to receive money they do not deserve. This makes it harder for people who need the welfare programs to get the money they need to support a family.
In my opinion I feel that this time of authority drug test are not effective. ” It would seem that if this policy were to make way that there would not be such a large rate of recidivism” (U.S. Dept. of Justice, 1999). It takes more that sending a person to prison to break them of their habits. The means which are necessary to aid the cause of ending a drug habit are not available with this policy. Under the Bill of rights, the four rights that this policy violates are, The right to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, the right against unreasonable searches and seizures, the right against self-incrimination, and the right to be treated the same as others.
From the years 2008 to 2013, the United States Federal Government spent over 3.7 trillion dollars on welfare programs (The New Normal: Welfare is Now America’s Most Popular Occupation, Husley). These government assistance programs have come to be abused by many Americans, and this is a problem that needs to be stopped. If the American welfare system can be reformed, it will reduce the strain it is putting on the United States’ already fragile financial system. In order to help the country out of debt and many Americans out of poverty, the American welfare programs must develop more vigorous requirements for citizens to qualify for benefits in addition to reducing the time period of assistance considerably. These changes would exclude citizens who receive disability benefits. This was attempted in 1996 when President Bill Clinton introduced TANF, (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families), as a government program which provided aid to destitute families for a period of five years. During this time, at least one dependent had to find another source of income to maintain their benefits. This reform worked for a time, but the Obama Administration waived the requirement that stated one dependent had to get a job, and allowed individual states to set the mandate (Counterpoint: Welfare Programs Create a Sense of Entitlement, 2013). A better solution would be to limit time of assistance to 18 months and require dependents to have either one full time job or two part time jobs to maintain benefits, unchangeable by the states. All states should lower the benefit pay per month to just below minimum wage so people wouldn’t see welfare as a better way to get support themselves than obtaining a job. This along with other changes to t...
In 2005, the Personal Responsibility, Work, and Promotion Act was amended by a house subcommittee to cut federal welfare funding to any state that did not drug test those applying for welfare benefits. Similar bills have been introduced in Kansas, Missouri, and West Virginia. Arizona has a limited drug testing program and some conservative politicians are still pushing for more regulations on drug testing (Haerens 1). Having family members that have received government assistance in the past and knowing their background with drug use, I believe it would be good if the regulations were stricter about testing for drug use and taking corrective action. Drug testing should be required for welfare recipients to ensure help is being provided to those who truly need it, to be sure that tax dollars aren’t going to irresponsible drug users, and because the working class already has to, so they should too.
Presently, many Americans today who are on government aids, but most of them abuse that help that is giving. Many American families in the United State who apply for welfare; dishonestly apply and use the aid for other uses besides what it is intended for. From personal experience, growing up in Texas with my mother being a single parent, the government assistance was needed. Recently the state of Florida passed a law that would require applicants who are applying for welfare to undergo a drug test. A similar was passed couple of years ago in the state of Michigan, but this law was shot down by the supreme court of the United States stated that it violated the 4th amendment. Public Assistance Drug testing law should have been a federal law years ago because the drug epidemic has been going on for years; government aid was being used to that purpose by some Americans. Public assistance is needed to help individuals with financial difficulties for a temporary time; however, restrictions must be placed on the recipients. States should control benefits, offer diverse assistance, and monitor drug use. There are many states, like Georgia, who want to put a law in place like Florida and Michigan because the abuse of government assistance goes far beyond drugs. Yet there are many support groups that are against this law with going back the 4th amendment.
Drug use now in days has grown more over these past years, with the abuse of drugs many people still have the privilege to apply freely to the welfare programs such as WIC, Food Stamps, and TANF. My interest to this topic is why it would be unconstitutional to be able to do a drug testing on welfare applicants.
There are many advantages to drug testing welfare recipients. One advantage is that people that are abusing drugs will stop taking advantage of the benefits that are provided to them by our government. If the working taxpayers are required to take a drug test in order to work, then individuals that are receiving aid from our government should be required to do the same. (Miran, 2015.). These individuals will have to decide what is more important to them, food and shelter or drugs? This proposal could also potentially save taxpayers money by eliminating recipients who are abusing drugs and manipulating the system. They will no longer receive benefits from the government, thus saving the taxpayers money. A great advantage that